Food Culture

All Dot's Pretzels Flavors Ranked in 2025

Published on September 5, 2025 | 0 Comments
Dot's Pretzel flavors include sweet and savory options

If you’ve ever felt compelled to ask, “What would happen if a chocolate company went into the pretzel business?”, there are six Dot’s Pretzels flavors to answer your question. Dot’s Pretzels started as a small-town business in North Dakota, but it was such a runaway success that Hersheyland (yes, the same Hersheyland responsible for Hershey bars) bought the company in 2021.

And now, with Dot’s Pretzels in supermarkets nationwide, more customers than ever can get their hands on founder Dorothy Henke’s excellent pretzels. And if you buy a bag of Dot’s Pretzels, it’s not hard to see why the company was such a runaway success. 

They’re crunchier, butterier and better-seasoned than most of their competitors, offering classic flavors done better than you might have ever seen them before. Even the least impressive flavor is delicious, and our hardest work here was just deciding the order of our Dot’s Pretzels flavor ranking when, by all accounts, they all deserve an A+.

But if you’re an avid snacker, our dilemma is very good news for you: there’s not one option on this list of Dot’s Pretzels flavors that isn’t a win. But out of all the Dot’s Pretzels flavors, one has to be ranked first and one has to be ranked sixth — so which Dot’s Pretzels flavors shine a little brighter than the rest? 

There’s not a dud in the bunch, and the best solution is to try them all, but this ranked Dot’s Pretzels flavor list will help you figure out which you’ll like most. 

 

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How We Ranked the Dot's Pretzels Flavors

As a trusted platform for culinary advice, Cozymeal is dedicated to making sure you find the information you need to experience the joy of good food. Whether that’s expert-led cooking content or a ranking of Dot’s Pretzels flavors, it’s what our team does best.

So when it comes time to rank a popular food product, we want to make sure that we reflect the opinions of consumers like you who have tried the product. 

If you haven’t had the chance to try Dot’s Pretzels before, you’ll likely want to know what fans of the brand advise. Thus, we’ve collected as much information as we can find about real customers’ opinions on Dot’s Pretzel flavors.

Customer reviews and our own snacking insights informed most of our ranking decisions. And since there were no true duds in this mix, the following criteria were especially important for ranking:

  • Popularity: How many satisfied customers would rank this as one of their favorite Dot’s Pretzels flavors? 
  • Originality: How common is this flavor across competing brands? Are other pretzels doing the same thing? 
  • Taste: Do reviews praise the taste? Does it taste like you’d expect it to? 

These criteria helped us make the tough decisions we had to make when ranking Dot’s Pretzels flavors. Even so, with a solid lineup of consistently tasty snacks, those weren’t easy decisions to make.

Dot’s Pretzels is easily one of the best pretzel brands, and the margins between flavors were often razor-thin. When necessary, we also took into account minor factors like appeal (how broadly appealing would this flavor be?) and consistency (does each bag of the same flavor taste mostly the same?). 

Together, these criteria helped us cobble together a ranked list of Dot’s Pretzel flavors — but that doesn’t mean it was easy to decide how to rank them all. 

A person taking a twisted pretzel from a charcuterie board
via Dot's Pretzels

The Best Dot's Pretzel Flavors Ranked

6. Southwest  

We’ve already said this several times, but we really can’t overstate it: every single Dot’s Pretzels flavor is tasty. The buttery pretzel, secret spice blend and excellent seasoning coverage (why is it so hard to find a seasoned pretzel with the thorough coating of seasoning we want to see?) that make up every Dot’s Pretzels flavor are present in every single bag.

But one of them had to take the last-place slot, and that ended up being Southwest. This Dot’s Pretzel flavor bills itself as spicy and zesty, with garlic and jalapeno as two of its most prominent flavors. And the spice blend does deliver on those two flavors. 

However, the result is neither quite as spicy nor quite as nuanced as you would hope. While still very enjoyable and worthy of consideration if you’re after somewhat healthy gas station snacks, they’re ultimately the least successful of the Dot’s Pretzels flavors currently on the market. 

A blue bag of Southwest Dot's Pretzels
via Dot's Pretzels

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5.  BBQ

The newest Dot’s Pretzels flavor is a success, as you might expect, but hasn’t seen the same meteoric rise in popularity as many of its peers. On the plus side, this is a true barbecue flavor: it’s bold, intense, smoky and a little sweet.

If you’re looking for a barbecue-flavored snack that truly gets what makes a good barbecue seasoning tick, you’ll likely love this Dot’s Pretzels flavor. But it’s also one of the less-consistent on this Dot’s Pretzel flavor list. 

Some fans found it a bit too sweet, going overboard with the brown sugar flavor common to most barbecue sauces. Others found it much too intense, saying that the overwhelming smoky flavor was too strong to sustain long-term snacking.

And while most agreed that it tasted great, it’s not quite the kind of barbecue flavor that you may be used to if you like barbecue potato chips, for example. But true barbecue lovers will likely be pleased with this Dot’s Pretzels flavor. 

BBQ is a popular Dot's Pretzels flavor
via Dot's Pretzels

4. Honey Mustard  

Mustard, especially American yellow mustard, can be a controversial flavor. Even people who claim to eat everything would often rather leave it off their sandwich. So anything that starts with a mustard base has a tightrope to walk if it wants to succeed.

Honey mustard, which adds sweetness to the almost-spicy tang of the regular stuff, is an even more contentious niche. So yes, this Dot’s Pretzel flavor is inherently not for everyone. That’s why it’s ranked fourth —  even though it's absolutely delicious. 

One of the most remarkable things about Dot’s Pretzels is how balanced and right their seasonings taste. This is no neon cheese powder or vague “spice” seasoning: if Dot’s is making a new flavor, it’s going to be an impeccable recreation of the source material.

This honey mustard tastes very much like the real thing, which means it’s not quite as in-your-face as some other snacks that imitate the same flavor. But in our minds, that only makes it more delicious: subtlety is an art, people. It’s so much better this way. 

A yellow bag of Honey Mustard flavor Dot's Pretzels
via Dot's Pretzels

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3. Parmesan Garlic  

This is another popular Dot’s Pretzels flavor among people who are looking for a more punchy snack. But it’s also where these rankings get super tight. In all honesty, Southwest and BBQ were really the only Dot’s Pretzels flavors that certain fans were disappointed by.

Even Honey Mustard is only ranked fourth because the flavor itself is a bit more polarizing, and most of the remaining flavors receive rave reviews across the board. But when it comes to Parmesan Garlic, there was no question in our minds that this Dot’s flavor deserved a great ranking. 

It’s an almost universally loved flavor, and we can never get enough of garlic and cheese combos in any format. So why are these savory, garlicky, dare we say, umami pretzels ranked in the middle of the pack? 

Though it was a tough call, we made this decision mostly because garlic as a flavor is a bit divisive. While many people are all for more garlic in their snacks, others might find it too pungent — it’s not the thing to eat before a date, and it might not be the wisest snack to leave out for guests who graze

The overall competitiveness of this list also has a lot to do with our rankings; there were ultimately two flavors we felt were just a little bit more popular. Hence, Parmesan Garlic doesn’t quite make it to the top of the list of Dot’s Pretzels flavors ranked. 

Parmesan Garlic is one of the best Dot's Pretzels flavors
via Dot's Pretzels

2. Cinnamon Sugar 

Cinnamon sugar soft pretzels are all the rage and have been for years, but somehow that trend has never really crossed over to the hard pretzel side of the market. Maybe there have been scattered attempts, but nothing truly ubiquitous — until now.

If you’re looking for a semi-dessert, a sweet snack that’s not candy or a healthy snack for kids who only seem to want sweets, this Dot’s Pretzels flavor is a revelation. Oh, and it’s as delicious as it sounds. That certainly doesn’t hurt. 

One of the best-loved aspects of Dot’s Pretzels is their butteriness. Although we have no idea what’s actually in founder Dorothy Henke’s original recipe, it has a much stronger butter taste than most competing pretzels. And in this instance, that’s what makes the flavor.

That drippy butter coating you’ll get on a cinnamon soft pretzel is right there in the dough. All of the necessary flavors are there, and they come together in a totally harmonious whole. 

It would be immensely difficult to find fault with this Dot’s Pretzels flavor — unless, that is, you don’t have much of a sweet tooth. And even then, give these a try: you may be surprised by how delicious you end up finding them. 

A purple bag of Cinnamon Sugar Dot's Pretzels
via Dot's Pretzels

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1. Original  

The Dot’s Pretzels flavor that started it all, all the way back in 2012. What can we say about this paragon of pretzel perfection that hasn’t already been said? It’s buttery, crunchy, salty, savory and really just about everything you could want in a pretzel.

It’s hard to beat a classic done right, and boy, is this Dot’s Pretzels flavor done right. Just spectacular. 

And yes, every Dot’s Pretzels flavor has something to contribute to the lineup, but it’s a testament to Dorothy Henke’s incredible culinary talent that this seemingly plain pretzel is the best flavor of the bunch, even without bold added seasonings. Pick a bag up before your next road trip, and you'll understand why they're named one of the best gas station snacks!

Original is generally considered the best Dot's Pretzels flavor
via Dot's Pretzels

How Many Flavors of Dot’s Pretzels Are There? 

At the time of writing, there are six Dot’s Pretzels flavors, all of which we’ve just ranked. The newest of those flavors is BBQ, and as implied by the small selection of flavors available, new releases are pretty infrequent.

Dot’s flavor selection tends to stick fairly closely to the classics, so don’t expect any crazy new flavors. But with only six flavors to choose from, you can be sure that every Dot’s Pretzel flavor is painstakingly developed and every bit as delicious as the next. 

A selection of Dot's Pretzels products on a counter
via Dot's Pretzels

Are Dot’s Pretzels Gluten-Free? 

Sadly, this one’s going to be a “no”: there currently aren’t any Dot’s Pretzels flavors that are safe to eat if you’re avoiding gluten. While they’re much higher-quality and therefore probably a far sight healthier than your average pretzel, Dot’s Pretzels — like most of their competitors — are made with wheat.

Perhaps one day we’ll get a special gluten-free Dot’s Pretzels flavor, but for the moment, we don’t have any such option.  

None of the Dot's Pretzels flavors are gluten-free
via Dot's Pretzels

Are Dot’s Pretzels Vegan?

This is another definite “no”: Dot’s Pretzels contain dairy, so while all Dot’s Pretzels flavors are okay for vegetarian snackers, they’re not vegan.

Unfortunately, that buttery flavor that fans love so much actually does come from butter. So, while we can hope that food science one day enables Dot’s Pretzels to replicate it with only plant-based products, that isn’t the current state of the recipe. 

A selection of Dot's Pretzels products
via Dot's Pretzels

If you’ve never heard of Dot’s Pretzels, you’re in for a treat. There are truly no better pretzels on the market, and every Dot’s Pretzels flavor has something unique and delicious to offer.

So while this ranking attempts to put a number to each beloved flavor, our rankings should by no means discourage you from sampling any of them. Ultimately, the best Dot’s Pretzels flavor is a matter of personal taste, and the unchanging quality of the entire lineup ensures that anything you choose will give you a great first experience with the brand. 

For even more ways to explore your favorite foods, check out other experiences happening on Cozymeal.